Daniela Saadi, Winner of the Second Maria Cristina Bergesio Scholarship 2022

The Language of Things. Artistic ornament as a visual notebook. Daniela Saadi, the intimate signs of migratory travel.

For some, the concept of contemporaneity proclaims that the observer dictates the semantics of a work.
However, the artistic project developed by Daniela Saadi adopts a position that I would define as modernist, where the collected objects, their manipulation, and the development of the idea are primarily the physical representation of her thoughts and experiences.
 
"Thought is extension, desire, plurality, body, poison, aura, skin, sense, symbiosis, lightness, weight, exploration" (1).
 
Each of her jewels has a title, as it is the language of things that guides her research. It is a narration, an overlapping of signs, sounds traced as writing, milestones from her migratory journey, in which the passage through places, collected objects, and listened dialogues are marked by words like "territory," "loss of roots," and "search for belonging."
 
"I believe that drawing inspiration from the artists who first paved the way is inevitable, and recognizing their influence is fundamental" (2).
 
Daniela Saadi refers to artists like Joseph Beuys, an important figure known for the use of autobiographical elements, transforming life experiences into artworks. Other sources of inspiration have been the work of Fernanda Gomes for the language of things and Martha Demisache for the artistic use of asemic writing, about which she states, "For me, the liberation of the sign happens within culture and history, not at their margins. In this sense, my work is not at all in line with the times. Graphically speaking, every time I start writing, I develop a formal idea that can be transformed into the idea of time."
 
In her artistic project, Daniela Saadi places the jewelry medium within other forms of art, such as painting, signs, and installations; everything is interconnected as an expression of her lived story. In the jewels created for her project, we must mention the influence of Lisa Walker's ideas and Annamaria Zanella's work with materials as mentors.
 
Thus, the theme of the language of things is the narrative of a journey that connects nations, continents, and cultures, forming another facet of this project whose jewels are a delicate declination. The brooch "Togliersi la pelle" (Removing the skin) is a trace of an unknown horizon, accompanying a necklace that defines inflamed and delicate boundaries, a bracelet that is in raw contiguity with reality, while the brooch "Escuchar desde afuera" (Listening from the outside) recalls shamanic protection talismans, where in this case, the listened and written words become memories of ancestral gestures.
 
One could mention the definition of "migratory aesthetics," understanding it as a contamination of various media, from an interdisciplinary perspective. The transversality of her elaboration is present in each realized jewel, and the semantic connection gradually leads to the visual map of a journey that is both aesthetic and internal, where territory, language, objects, and emotions bear witness to this fascinating transformation.


Notes:

(1) Teresa Macrì. "Pensiero discordante," Postmediabooks, pg. 5.
(2) Hans Ulrich Obrist, "A cosa serve l'arte," Marsilio, 2009, pg. 19.


Bibliographic references:

Giorgio Bacci, "Confini - Viaggi nell'arte contemporanea," Postmedia Books.
Hans Ulrich Obrist (with Luigi Ricuperati), "A che cosa serve l'arte," Marsilio Cartabianca.
Teresa Macrì, "Pensiero discordante," Postmediadata.


>> Read the complete Research project by Daniela Saadi

 

About the author

Maria Laura La Mantia
After gaining a diploma from the Accademia di Moda e Costume with a thesis on accessories, she began to work with companies in the Goldsmithery and accessories sector as a designer. Since 2001 she has worked in training for various bodies teaching History of Jewellery and Applied Decorative Techniques. She works with companies in the sector in planning collections, trade fair and retail projects and visual merchandising for Goldsmithery.

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